"The first 24 hours of this site has been a true success, with more than 13 800 pixels being sold. We have to take down the site for now but we hope to be back as soon as possible," said the statement.

HelpFirefox, launched by Swedish entrepeneur Sam Nurmi, aims to raise $1m (£560,000) this year. Pixels are being auctioned at one dollar apiece on the site to raise funds for the open source web browser. All revenues will go to the Mozilla Foundation, reported Linux News.

"Today, Firefox is the best browser on the market. Its developers are doing an incredible job, but for Firefox to be able to surpass Internet Explorer with its unlimited budget, external funding is necessary. We will give them that," said Nurmi.

Nurmi called for open source companies, including MySQL, Red Hat, and Sun, to support the site.

"Here's the opportunity for MySQL, Red Hat, Sun Microsystems and all others who want to support open source to make a difference," Nurmi told Linux News. "Open-source applications are a positive and natural phenomenon, in an evolution directed towards cutting the costs of goods and services."

HelpFirefox uses a fundraising idea developed by British student Alex Tew. Tew launched his site, The Million Dollar Homepage, last year to raise money for his university education by selling pixels to advertisers.

The Million Dollar Homepage is also struggling to stay online. It was unavailable on Monday, with some reports suggesting it was under attack from malicious hackers.

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